MLB draft: Scouting the top eight prospects

The Astros have the top pick in Thursday’s baseball draft and say they have narrowed their options to four or five players, although they aren’t publicly identifying them.

One veteran amateur talent evaluator, who has led multiple drafts as a scouting director, has seen all of the top 20 prospects in this year’s draft at least once for his current organization. Most MLB scouting departments judge players on a scale that ranges from a low of 20 to a high of 80. A grade of 50 is considered average. Here are this talent evaluator’s top eight.